


a troop of damsels glad

by musicforswimming



Category: Gemma Doyle Trilogy - Libba Bray
Genre: Boarding School, Canon Queer Character, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-06
Updated: 2006-01-06
Packaged: 2017-12-21 21:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicforswimming/pseuds/musicforswimming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity and Pippa, and how they came to be friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a troop of damsels glad

There are interviews for tutors. Oh, of course some girls are sent to -- sniff --  _schools_ , but Mama was instructed by a tutor, and all the girls who  _matter_  are instructed by them even now. It's simply unthinkable, that Admiral Worthington's daughter should go to one of those schools.  
  
So says Mama as she tugs on a dress one morning, a lovely dress the color of fresh spring lilacs, but even as a child Fee notices how worn some of the seams are.  
  
None of the tutors last much longer than a week, Felicity sees to that.  
  
   
  
Mother buys her new dresses for school, and when it is explained to her in a letter that she must wear a uniform, Mother buys her all sorts of new gloves, capes, coats and hats instead. Jewelry as well, no matter that too much gaudy jewelry looks vulgar on a child, she has always said. They must have ways to set themselves apart, mustn't they? Everyone must know that Pippa is their better.  
  
That is what Pippa thinks, anyway, when Mother offers her another new ivory comb. They must all simply know their place.  
  
   
  
Papa is not home for this and suddenly it happens that Mama is merely anxious to get rid of her. So, at last, it is off to an academy outside of London, and they are all much happier that way.  
  
Papa is still away at sea when she is sent from home. They tell Mama, though, that she cannot stay for long, and she is not eager to venture past the parlor. A quick pat of her daughter's hand and then Mama is gone.  
  
She is sorry that Papa was not here to say good-by to her.  
  
She is glad that he was not here to see how eager she was to leave the house.  
  
   
  
There is a new girl, and she is to share rooms with Pippa.  
  
It will, of course, do her no good to protest; if anything it will probably just make the stupid old cow more intent on forcing this on her, Pippa thinks, walking sullenly away from Miss Nightwing. She reflects instead upon just how much she hates this school, almost as much as she hates Mama and Papa. She trips the scholarship girl at breakfast the day after she learns of the development, and makes pig noises at her when she is climbing back to her feet. She wishes that the fire which destroyed the East Wing had burned the entire school instead, and that horrible Miss Nightwing with it, for all she cared.  
  
   
  
A young lady named Philippa is to be Felicity's roommate.  
  
"Hullo," she says, and then, as though remembering herself, "it is very nice to meet you."  
  
Felicity does not think she thinks it is very nice to meet her at all.  
  
"Nothing about this is very nice," is all she says, looking out at the falling twilight of the grounds. "Ugh."  
  
Philippa seems uncertain whether to smile or scowl. This means, Felicity guesses, that she agrees, but she does not want an ally and so does not want to show any sign of agreement.  
  
That's not something Felicity minds, really.  
  
   
  
The new girl's face is almost as lovely as Pippa's is, and her breeding almost as good as Pippa's is. This makes her even angrier, and she hates her almost immediately, because  _she_  is not sick, and that is enough to make up for her slight deficiencies in face and finances.  
  
Besides, her Papa is famous, even if he is not so rich as Pippa's.  
  
   
  
Having come a few weeks into the term makes her an oddity, and Philippa's friends all seem unsure whether they should mock her or not. It is clear that Philippa does not like her, and so they follow her lead and do not like her either, but it is also clear that they are a little afraid of her.  
  
Felicity encourages this fear; she remembers what Papa has always told her about being in command, and so she squares her shoulders, keeps her chin up and her upper lip stiff, and sneers at them all whenever she gets the chance.  
  
They talk about equality in the papers and the books Papa has, but this is equality, Felicity thinks -- they are all equally low beneath her. That, at least, is what she tries to show them as she sits down to breakfast every morning, Philippa's friends gawking at her the whole time.  
  
   
  
"That is a lovely comb," Felicity says one morning, as she is helping Pip lace up her corset.  
  
"Oh," Pip says. They rarely talk to each other at this time, so the words are unexpected, and she isn't at all sure what she is to make of them. "Er -- why, thank you."  _Please,_  she thinks,  _don't let her notice that I stuttered._  
  
There is no comment on it, but there is a lovely cruel smirk on Felicity's lovely cruel face as she turns around and lifts her hair so that Pippa can help her lace up as well. Pippa would very much like to scratch the lips off of her face when she glimpses it. Instead, she searches around Felicity's half of the room and finally, spotting a photograph, says "Your father is very handsome."  
  
"Thank you," Felicity answers quickly, but Pippa thinks she feels the other girl stiffen.  
  
"We are going to be late for breakfast if you do not hurry," Felicity says shortly, and Pippa nods.  
  
   
  
"You may call me Pippa," Philippa says at last, as though she were granting a boon.  
  
Felicity smiles back, and realizes she is not sure whether it is a real smile or not. "You may call me Fee, if you like," she says, trying to equal the tone.  
  
They look at each other.  
  
That night, as they walk to prayers, their arms are linked, and they chatter on as though they were the best of friends. Elizabeth and Cecily are confused, but go along with this development as though they were there when the show was written, which of course they will probably convince themselves they were.


End file.
